Cathay CEO Resigns Amid Hong Kong Protest Blowback
The boss of Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways quit on Friday, the highestprofile corporate casualty of unrest roiling the former British colony, after Beijing targeted the airline over staff involvement in mass protests.
The corporate upheaval comes ahead of a weekend where further protests are planned, including what could be a large gathering on Sunday that could test whether a movement that has enjoyed broad support can retain it, even as violence escalates. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that has enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997.
Several thousand protesters gathered peacefully at a downtown park on Friday for the “Stand with Hong Kong, Power to the People” rally, which had received police permission. Other protests planned for the weekend do not have police permission.
A rally set for Sunday by the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized million-strong marches in June, has only been allowed permission for an assembly in Victoria Park on Hong Kong island,
though not a march, due to safety concerns.
The group is appealing against the Police decision.
A ban on a march in Kowloon’s Hung Hom district on Saturday was overturned on Friday.
Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into turmoil, and present the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
Police tactics against protesters have been hardening.
Rupert Hogg
Rupert Hogg is Chief Executive Officer of Cathay Pacific, a position he has held since May 2017. He is also Chairman of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited (branded as Cathay Dragon) and AHK Air Hong Kong Limited and a board Director of Cathay Pacific, John Swire & Sons (HK) Limited and Air China Cargo Company Limited. Mr Hogg holds a Masters degree from Edinburgh University (MA Hons). He is married with four children.